Finally this hour, it's time for dessert. And our ice cream sundae today is Bob Mondello's annual summer movie preview. This weekend officially kicks off Hollywood's blockbuster season, although "Battleship," "The Avengers" and "Men in Black" are already busy saving the world from aliens. What will Hollywood do next? Bob says more of the same.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: In space, no one can hear you scream encore, which is more or less what science fiction fans have been screaming at Ridley Scott since he made the original "Alien." Other directors did sequels, but now, Scott's made what looks like a prequel - "Prometheus" - in which an interplanetary expedition encounters a life form that's, well, you know how this goes.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "PROMETHEUS")

MICHAEL FASSBENDER: (as David) They're leaving.

NOOMI RAPACE: (as Elizabeth Shaw) To go where?

FASSBENDER: (as David) Earth.

RAPACE: (as Elizabeth Shaw) We were so wrong. Take us home. If we don't stop it, there won't be any home to go back to.

MONDELLO: Happily, once "Prometheus" opens, being afraid of things hurdling towards us from outer space will almost immediately be so last week. Aliens will discover that they tangle with Earth's defenses at their peril in "The Watch," for instance, given our crack teams of neighborhood watch volunteers.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "THE WATCH")

JONAH HILL: (as Franklin) Look at me.

BEN STILLER: (as Evan) Look at me. Look at him and listen to me.

HILL: (as Franklin) Listen to his words and look at my face, but look at him while he's talking.

MONDELLO: And then there's an oddly bittersweet take on global annihilation called "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World."

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (as character) The final mission to save Mankind has failed. The 70-mile wide asteroid known as Matilda is set to collide with Earth in exactly three weeks' time, and we'll be bringing you our countdown to the end of days along with all your classic rock favorites.

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY: (as Penny) So what are you doing with the rest of your life?

STEVE CARELL: (as Dodge) Catching up on some me time, find God, maybe move around some chairs.

MONDELLO: That's Steve Carell, who also has another comedy this summer - "Hope Springs" - in which he plays a couple's counselor for Tommy Lee Jones.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HOPE SPRINGS")

CARELL: (as Dr. Bernie Feld) I'm so glad you're here.

TOMMY LEE JONES: (as Arnold Soames) Well, that makes one of us.

MONDELLO: And his wife, Meryl Streep.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HOPE SPRINGS")

CARELL: (as Dr. Bernie Feld) You two have come here to try to restore intimacy to your marriage.

JONES: (as Arnold Soames) This is insane. We're not 22 years old anymore.

CARELL: (as Bernie Feld) I would like to assign you your first exercise. Tonight, I would like you to spend a period of time with your arms around one another.

JONES: (as Arnold Soames) I think we better stop.

MONDELLO: A less star-studded romantic comedy "Your Sister's Sister" involves a guy who goes to a cabin to spend some alone time, finds a friend's sister there, and, well, it gets complicated.

KATE BECKINSALE: (as Lori) Your memory was erased. Your mind was implanted with a life you think you've lived.

MONDELLO: And a whole new Supremes-style girl group in an all-new "Sparkle."

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "SPARKLE")

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (as character) When you see a train that's going to get to where you're trying to go...

(SOUNDBITE OF FIGHT)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (as character) ...you got to jump on it.

MONDELLO: Those last two, "Total Recall" and "Sparkle," are out-and-out remakes, a form that is otherwise in short supply this summer, but there's still plenty that's familiar, from the aging mercenaries in "Expendables 2" to the antics of the romantics in "To Rome with Love," a Woody Allen comedy that showcases the master himself.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "TO ROME WITH LOVE")

WOODY ALLEN: (as Jerry) They gave us such a great room. You know, you married a very bright guy. I got 150, 160 IQ.

MONDELLO: The picture is huge in Italy, despite complaints about stereotypes.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "TO ROME WITH LOVE")

ALLEN: (as Jerry) Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (as character) This is my father.

ALLEN: (as Jerry) (Unintelligible).

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (as character ) Without the unions, the worker would be ground into dust.

ALLEN: (as Jerry) The kid's a communist. The father's a mortician. The mother run a leper colony?

MONDELLO: Other comedies include "Safety Not Guaranteed," about a guy looking for company when he goes time-traveling; "Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding," in which Jane Fonda plays a free-spirited granny who bakes hash brownies; and "The Campaign," with Zach Galifianakis and Will Ferrell as dueling political candidates.

MONDELLO: If all this sounds like a bit much, there are a few quieter pictures. I mean, it's summer, so not too quiet. But there's a French live-action sort of "Amelie-like" romance called "Chicken with Plums" from the director of "Persopolis;" a beautifully acted post-Hurricane Katrina slice of life called "Beasts of the Southern Wild;" as well as a pair of musician documentaries - "Neil Young Journeys" and "Paul Williams Still Alive."

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (as character) When you have a song with a girl's name, do you ever tell a girl, say, I was thinking of you when I wrote this? A lot of Holiday Inns have heard those lines.

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

MONDELLO: There's another documentary that sounds like fiction but isn't - "Queen of Versailles" - about a billionaire couple who built themselves a mansion with 90,000 square feet of space and 10 kitchens. But most summer movies offer more active fantasies - "Snow White and the Huntsman," say, or "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" or a film version of Broadway's power rock, big hair musical "Rock of Ages."

MONDELLO: Also taking the stage, though a much smaller one, is Channing Tatum in "Magic Mike," which is based loosely on a job he had before he took up acting - as a stripper.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "MAGIC MIKE")

CODY HORN: (as Paige) I'm just trying to figure out why stripping.

CHANNING TATUM: (as Mike Martingano) Women, money and a good time.

HORN: (as Paige) Just trying to forget about the people who exist in the daylight - the non-vampire.

TATUM: (as Mike Martingano) Right. Are we fighting?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

TATUM: (as Mike Martingano) Is this our first fight?

(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)

MONDELLO: There's also "Premium Rush," a snappy looking thriller starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a bike messenger in trouble; "Savages," Oliver Stone's look at some mild-mannered drug dealers in trouble; and Christopher Nolan's final epic about a caped crusader in trouble.

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